I've been writing songs for about 20 years now and I will quite often tear off in a passionate outburst around a song or story idea. "I'm going to do a short film based on this song and it'll blah blah blah ..." One of the things I always said I was going to do was write a kids book. Well, this past Easter while at the Market Collective I met an artist named Ola Birch and asked if she'd be interested in working with me. As it turns out she was more excited about my project than I was. She had sketches done in a couple days. She had all the characters worked out in a few more. She had them all coloured and finalized in a few weeks. Before I knew I had enough to make my book.

Holy Crap! I got enough stuff to make a friggin' book? ... um ... uh ... well ... uh ... I guess I should make a book then.

But wait, I haven't done any real graphic design stuff in about three years. I haven't done any print work in close to ten. I have two kids and I really only get about an hour a night to do my own thing before I have to head off to bed. The story is based on a song I've done and it's not even recorded yet, I've only played it a few times I don't even know if it's good enough. My kids seem to like it but there is a whole world out there. I don't want to be the next Fred Penner or Raffi. I just want ... HOLD IT!

Man, I can get sick of the inside of my head sometimes.

I decided that in the one hour a night that I had I would put the book together, it took about three weeks and some nights were a little longer than an hour. One more night and the files should be ready for the printer. I'm completely astonished.

So that's my story so far. After 20 years of songwriting my first completed project is a book, go figure.

What's the book called? Oh sorry 'bout that It's called 'Going To The Zany Zoo'. Here is the description from the back:

"A cast of characters your family will love to visit again and again are waiting for you to join them. Spinning, Winning and Bottom Shaking are just a few of the fun things the animals are up to at the Zany Zoo."

Zany Zoo cover test print

If you'd like to be notified when the book is ready to purchase please sign up for my once a month newsletter. Sign Up